Eating your insides out: cultural, physical and institutionally-structured violence in the prison place

This article explores three forms of violence in the prison place: physical, cultural and structural. The article starts with an overview of the nature and extent of 'everyday mundane' physical violence in the prison place, drawing upon but also problematising official data. The article then looks at 'cultures of violence' and the role that they perform in legitimating everyday prison violence. Finally, and most importantly, the article then explores the problem of 'structural violence' (Galtung, 1969) in the prison place and the manner in which it underscores both physical and cultural violence. Making connections with the 'deprivation' thesis in the sociology of imprisonment literature and detailing harmful outcomes and consequences of structural violence, such as the generation of suicidal ideation and self inflicted deaths in prison, the article concludes by arguing that prisons are inevitably places of violence, iatrogenic harm, injury and death. Any successful anti-violence and harm reduction strategies must therefore be directly tied to broader radical reductionist and penal abolitionist agendas

Reimagining Citizenship: Towards non-penal real utopias

As has long been recognised, the social distance created between offenders and a mythical law-abiding majority helps to fuel punitive practices and hinders any attempts to seriously reform the penal landscape (e.g. Christie, 2000). The commonplace treatment of the majority of offenders as non-citizens precludes meaningful dialogue and debate with ‘the citizenry’. As has been evident in recent years, debate about penal issues amongst those who are seen to be worthy of citizenship has often been reduced to base populism (Pratt, 2007). This presentation will seek to argue that penal reform can only result from adopting a genuinely inclusive, pluralist notion of citizenship (Kabeer, 2005) which is capable of incorporating all those affected by both state-defined crimes and various forms of social harm, whether they are regarded as victims or offenders. Even though we favour a Marshallian rights-based approach to citizenship, we argue that the notion of responsibility is also paramount. Yet, it needs to be understood in the widest possible sense to focus not only on the responsibilities of offenders as citizens but also those of individuals, states and communities to play a meaningful role in tackling harmful behaviour at source. This of course entails shifting the focus beyond harmful actions and those responsible for them to analyse broader agendas for political reform. Here we draw upon the insights of the Argentinian Liberation Philosopher Enrique Dussel (2010; 2013). Just as the debate on penal policy needs to go beyond crime, as it is commonly defined, the solutions proposed for the resolution of harmful behaviour need to go beyond the penal, going further than simply modifying the penal landscape to develop genuine non-penal real utopias

Speaking the language of state violence: an abolitionist perspective

This article explores the 'violence of incarceration' from an abolitionist perspective. The article starts by exploring the meaning of 'state violence' and connecting this with broader debates around 'structural violence'. It then goes on to overview the abolitionist approach, first by differentiating it from liberal penological understandings of violence in prison and then by naming the 'violence of incarceration' as form of state violence. The article concludes with a call for the mobilisation of social justice activists against all manifestations of state violence

Otherwise than prisons, not prisons otherwise. Therapeutic communities as a non-penal real utopia

The aim of this article is to critically engage with the idea that Therapeutic Communities (TC’s) can be promoted as a radical alternative to prison for substance users who have broken the law in England. After grounding the discussion within the normative framework of an ‘abolitionist real utopia’ (Scott, 2013), the article explores the historical and theoretical underpinnings of TC’s. Existing literature which advocates that TC’s can be ‘otherwise than prison’, not ‘prisons otherwise’ are then reviewed, followed by a critical reflection of the strengths and weaknesses of the TC’s contribution to a broader non-penal real utopia manifesto. After evaluating evidence concerning whether TC’s necessarily are a genuine alternative to the prison place, the article concludes that whilst findings indicate TC’s could be a plausible and historically immanent non-penal real utopia for certain people in certain circumstances it is essential that we remain focused on the broader priority of challenging social inequalities

Before Prison, Instead of Prison, Better than Prison: Therapeutic Communities as an Abolitionist Real Utopia

The aim of this paper is to critically engage with the idea that Therapeutic Communities (TCs) can be promoted in England and Wales as a radical alternative to prison for substance users who have broken the law. After grounding the discussion within the normative framework of an ‘abolitionist real utopia’ (Scott 2013), the article explores the historical and theoretical underpinnings of TCs. Existing literature advocating TCs as a radical alternative both before and instead of prison is then reviewed, followed by a critical reflection of the TCs compatibility with the broader values and principles of an abolitionist real utopia. To conclude, the article suggests that, although TCs could be a plausible and historically immanent non‐penal real utopia for certain people in certain circumstances, we must not lose focus of wider social inequalities

A little bit of knowledge is a bad thing: Reflections on TC Tourism

The aim of this article is to briefly explore the strengths and weaknesses of engaging in short visits to Therapeutic Communities (TCs). As we search in or times of penal excess for different ways of responding to ‘troubled’ individuals, detailed knowledge about interventions such as the TC are becoming increasing significant. But how can politicians, practitioners, pressure groups, activists and members of the public learn more about the workings of the TC and its potential as a radical alternative? One possibility is through what we loosely refer to as ‘TC Tourism’. There is a growing body of literature on ‘prison tourism’ and other forms of limited engagement from members of the public in the prison place (Barton and Brown, 2012; Brown 2013; Piche and Walby, 2013). Much of this commentary has highlighted how little such ‘tourism’ has done to challenge ‘penological illiteracy’, punitive common sense constructions or established official ‘truths’ mystifying the painful realities of the prison place. Drawing upon our own experiences, we consider the strengths and weaknesses of engaging in visits to TCs in England, France, Italy, Denmark and Australia

Reflections on the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control

All academic writing is collaborative. It is collaborative in the sense that when we write academic discourse we inevitably engage with the ideas of others who have previously written on our topic areas; that when we publish our work it has often - and largely invisibly - benefitted from formal and informal reviews, suggestions and helpful comments from colleagues and other peers; and often, what we write can be an indirect and serendipitous result of being part of an intellectual milieu where we are able to freely discuss issues and debates collectively and learn through a dialogue with like-minded people. Without such a collaborative ethos academic discourse would be much the poorer and advances in scholarship much harder to come by. Those forums that facilitate collaboration should be treasured and their crucial contribution acknowledged. The European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control [European Group] is one such intellectual milieu in which the ideas explored in critical criminologies in the last five decades have germinated and developed

Punishing the Other

Book Revie

Hearing the voice of the estranged Other: Abolitionist ethical hermeneutics

This article explores the ethico-political justifications for hearing the prisoner voice from an abolitionist perspective. It starts by locating the interpretation of prisoner narratives within the specific moral context of the prison place and moves on to consider whether discourse ethics can effectively safeguard the voice of the prisoner. After identifying the strengths and weaknesses of discourse ethics and their application in liberal penologies, the discussion turns to the alternative critical theory of liberation ethics. Enrique Dussel (2013) has argued that we have an ethico-political responsibility to not only ensure material conditions are in place to facilitate voice but also to adopt the worldview of the powerless. Whilst such a position cannot be uncritically accepted, an argument is made for the selective adoption of the prisoner voice which is consistent with an abolitionist normative framework promoting emancipatory politics and praxis. The article draws to a conclusion by considering normative principles that can guide abolitionists when the prisoner voice is silenced